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vini · Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2004 11:17 am Post subject: Unisys vs. MVS platform

Hi All,

Need info on UNISYS . Is Unisys an Operating System or is it the hardware ? If its latter ..what is the OS on Unisys ?
If its an OS itself then how different is it from OS-390/MVS ??? I am familiar with OS-390 but not with Unisys.

I have a job offer for Unisys but have no idea what its like to work on Unisys vs. MVS. How similar or different are these two ??? Any inputs or experiences on moving from MVS to Unisys would be great. Is it easy , easier , harder ???

Thanks!
Vini.

Mike Chantrey · Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2004 12:00 pm Post subject:

Have you been to their website at www.unisys.com ?
I had a poke around out of interest and came to the following conclusions:
1/ They produce hardware and O/Ss
2/ The hardware seems to be mainframe class servers but not related to the IBM architecture.
3/ The operating systems are MCP and OS2200 neither of which appear to bear any relation to MVS etc.

So I don't think your experience is specifically relevant to their systems. My instinct is that large systems UNIX/LINUX experience would be more relevant.

kolusu · Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2004 12:35 pm Post subject:

Vini,

Here is some brief intro about mainframes. I googled and found some interesting facts.

Some of the makers of mainframes are : Burroughs, Honeywell, IBM, Sperry, Univac.

IBM now dominates the mainframe market. Most other makers have been merged out of existence. Sperry and Univac merged into Sperry-Univac in 1955. Burroughs and Sperry merged into Unisys in 1986.

Unisys A series mainframes originated with the Burroughs architecture. The MicroA system had a small A-series processor installed, and various versions of OS/2 (and occasionally a weird Unix flavor) were used to manage the system. (There were several models.) MicroA systems could run Unisys A series mainframe applications at about one four hundredth the speed of their then fastest mainframe, give or take.

Unisys (Burroughs) was reasonably popular among banks and other financial institutions. The MicroA's micro-mainframe processor ran an operating system called MCP (Master Control Program). Of course, OS/2 was really the master, and MCP was the slave.

IBM's WebSphere software provides a mechanism to develop and run complicated Java programs, while more recently the company has pushed a mainframe version of Linux to attract more programmers and software companies.

To combat this Unisys mainframes came up with a new series and are now sold under the ClearPath brand name. The current operating system for them is OS 2200. The system can run Java and .Net programs directly on the mainframe.

vini · Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2004 3:57 pm Post subject:

Kolusu , Thnks for the valuable info 8) and advice !